Steerpike

Whether it's in government or outside it, financial management has often been Labour's weak spot. In recent years though the party has struggled to balance its own budgets, let alone those of the country, with fundraising from wealthy donors being (understandably) more difficult during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.  Electoral Commission figures published last week show that in 2019 the Lib Dems managed to outspend Labour by more than £2.3 million during that year's general and European elections even with the might of the trade unions backing Jezza. Despite a change of leader, problems still remain with reports last summer that the party risked facing bankruptcy over the legal bill for antisemitism cases and the leaked internal dossier on the handling of this issue.

Much has changed in the world of politics since May 2015 but one thing certainly hasn't – former MP David Ward is still causing problems for the Liberal Democrats. The one term wonder achieved little in his year five stint in Parliament other than notoriety for a 2013 website post to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in which claimed he was 'saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps, be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza'. He was subsequently temporarily suspended from the parliamentary party five months later for questioning Israel's right to exist.

Three national newspapers last night splashed on No. 10 source claims that Dominic Cummings was responsible for WhatsApp leaks about Boris Johnson's government. Less than 24 hours later the former chief adviser has opted to return fire, unleashing a 1,091 blog post in vintage Cummings style.  It begins in typically combative style – 'the Prime Minister’s new director of communications Jack Doyle, at the PM’s request, has made a number of false accusations to the media' – going on to rebut reported claims in recent months.

When Boris Johnson announced he was running to be Tory leader in July 2019, few were more vociferous in their support than Johnny Mercer. The former Royal Artillery captain claimed at the time that 'Boris is the man of the moment' and 'a much deeper thinker than people assess him to be', being rewarded with a post as a junior defence minister. Fast forward nearly two years and Mercer has now left his post over the treatment of veterans who served in Northern Ireland after they were excluded from the amnesty in the Overseas Operations Bill. In a Times Radio interview this afternoon, Mercer let rip his frustrations, claiming that his spell in Whitehall was 'the most distrustful, awful environment I've ever worked in' – quite a statement from a Helmand veteran.

Sinoscepticism is on the rise in Parliament, with China's controversial 'Belt and Road Initiative' increasingly being the subject of attention in the House of Lords. Down the corridor and across central lobby it appears no MPs are now willing to be linked with the scheme which ties Chinese infrastructure spending with increased influence. The All Party Parliamentary Group for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was founded in 2018 by Labour MP Faisal Rashid, who managed to find time amidst the ongoing Brexit drama in the last Parliament to visit both Guangdong and Guangxi in China.